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Billy the Painter Review

PROS

Such a simple game with an equally simple control scheme, yet success takes some finesse.

CONS

More interesting shapes to paint would have been nice.

VERDICT

A score based game where your touches create paint blobs that will encompass all as they grow until they smack into a paint barrier. That's entirely what's on offer here.

Full Review

App Store Info

Painting must have been a lot different in the 20s and 30s. If Billy the Painter has taught me anything, it's that painting is as easy as splotting down a dab of color, and watching it expand until the area you were painting has been covered completely. Of course a game element has to be introduced, so if the paint touches the edges and blends with the areas already painted, a life is lost. What? You're telling me that paint doesn't work that way? Ah well, it still makes for a simple and entertaining premise.

And really there's not much more to say about the game. Each level has areas that need painting. You tap the screen and a dash of color starts growing from that spot. You can pop down as many of these as you like, and indeed the finesse of the game is to time your paint so that you can dab smaller areas when the larger ones are close to being filled by earlier dabs. There are splotches of other colors that give you bonus points upon covering, and your final score is dictated by how much of the surface area you covered before hitting the outer edges. Anything below fifty percent will be a failed job, and after three failed jobs, it's game over.

As you continue, the shapes get trickier to fill, and every ten stages, there is a bonus level worth double points, but the areas you need to paint are always variations on simple circles. It's understandable given how the paint reacts upon tapping, but it feels like a wasted opportunity not to be a little more creative giving the player silhouettes of images to fill, creating more of a puzzle element alongside the timing game. Also while everything is presented like a Fleischer Brothers cartoon, the style is only used superficially.

Being a free game you should easily get some gaming satisfaction from Billy the Painter. You'll understand the finer points of playing after a couple games, and from there it's a test to see how far you can get before being fired and having to start all over again. Played in small bursts it should have some longevity. As they say, a little dab will do ya.

Description

*** Featured as New and Noteworthy on the App Store ***

Looking for a free game? Check out our new LITE version, which has the same gameplay, but also some ads every now and then. This FULL version will have support for the Game Center with leaderboards & achievements in few weeks.

"Extremely addictive. Billy the Painter Is for sure a must have." — appadvice.com

"This is such a simple game in premise yet it’s almost genius." — touchmyapps.com

"When you want a focused and good-looking spatially-aware puzzle game, look no further than Billy the Painter!" — jayisgames.com

"The graphics and music combine with the game’s mechanics to create a unique, enjoyable iOS puzzle experience." — aptitudes.com

*** TOTALLY NEW GAME TYPE ***

Use your sense of rhythm, precise taps and quick decisions to help Billy to paint the old factory.

You are thrown to the era of the swinging twenties & hand-made animations before the time of jet planes and computers, not to mention mobile phones. Poor Billy has a hard job to do. He has to paint the floor of an old factory after the removal of obsolete machines. He has to paint the revealed surface exactly, and he can’t spill any paint over the rest of the shiny floor.

Every tap you make starts a wave of paint expanding in all directions until it hits the older, already finished part of the floor. Try to fill as large an area as you possibly can before the first wave goes over the limit. The more precise you are, the more points you get!

* TIP 1: YOU CAN MAKE AS MANY WAVES AS YOU WANT. *
* TIP 2: DON'T QUIT. MAKE NEW WAVES UNTIL THE FIRST WAVE HITS THE BORDER. IT COUNTS! *

The game is easy to start, but you can improve your skills forever. You can try many strategies to fill the area with the best possible precision. In theory you could fill all levels with 100% precision! In practice, 95% is great, 90% good, and even 50% is enough for the first level. Requirements increase slowly, but certainly. You just can’t make too many mistakes without losing a job.

Billy has three opportunities to show his skills. He gets a warning after each level, where he doesn’t fulfill precision requirements. After three warnings he is sacked from the job and the game is over for you.

Earn BONUS POINTS by painting over old paint of wrong color splattered over the field. Don’t be too greedy and mess up your percentages by going too near the borders too early!!!